The 11th of July, 2015 marked one of the saddest moments in tabletop and roleplaying games history: the death of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle tabletop game, and with it, the Old World, perhaps one of the most iconic fantasy universes ever created.
For those of you who have not heard of Warhammer Fantasy, here is a brief recap. It all started in 1983 when Games Workshop released the first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the tabletop wargame that lifted the, then small, gaming company to world prominence. To accompany their new game, the guys at GW created a fantasy universe that, over the years, grew to be one of the most unique fantasy settings ever created, a dark and gritty world that inspired many, including Blizzard's well-known Warcraft series. Sadly, it all came to an end a few weeks ago when Games Workshop decided to kill their entire fantasy lineup in order to start fresh, with a new tabletop game and new a setting, both aimed for the casual player.
Scrapping a well-made but admittedly complex game system in favor of a new, more streamlined party game is one thing (from a strictly financial perspective, it might even be understandable, although not any less sad). But, throwing away 32 years of lore and a game world that was one of the most original ones out there, a universe that had become part of the lives of tens of thousands from board and video gamers to roleplayers and tabletop wargamers, is a decision hard to come to terms with (I doubt I will ever be able to as it was a consistent part of my life since my early teens).
If you have not heard of Warhammer Fantasy before, I highly recommend that you look it up and, if you like what you saw, maybe even buy a few novels or roleplay supplements while you still can. They will soon become hard to come by. And if you are someone who, like me, loved the Old World, hold on to your old Warhammer stuff; you are possessing true treasures, the mementoes of a glorious but now dead period of gaming history.
Warhammer Fantasy
1983 - 2015
Sad indeed! I am going to give a go at Kings of War though :)
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